When Filter mainman Richard Patrick went into rehab in 2002, it marked the end of the industrial-rock band’s rad second line-up. That means it’s been about a decade since the Filter that made Title Of Record (super classic!) and The Amalgamut (epic!), and since then jeez I haven’t caught sight of Patrick’s old team like at all. Which is surprising, cuz drummer Steve Gillis is a stud (here) and guitarist Geno Lenardo co-wrote this phase of Filter’s biggest (here) and biggest-selling jamz (here).

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I still haven’t heard Filter’s latest album, The Trouble with Angels; based on Vince’s review, I haven’t felt like I was missing much. Vince did say that “No Love” was one of his personal favorite songs on the record, though, and having now heard it for the first time, I can understand why! It’s got a good beat and it’s catchy. And I’ve always been a really big fan of Richard Patrick’s voice.

Unfortunately, I don’t find the video all that interesting, despite choreographed dancing, lesbians making out, and the presence of some scantily-clad extras who seem to have wandered in the orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut. But, y’know, there are way worse things to have in your video.

This clip debuted at Noisecreep, who also have video of the band performing an acoustic version of the track. Actually, I might like the acoustic version even better, and the quality of Patrick’s pipes live is a nice contrast from so many other modern singers who try to dupe their audience.  Go check it out.

-AR

A lot of serious music people turn up their noses at Filter, and shit, I don’t exactly blame them. It’s tough to tell that mainman Richard Patrick is a brilliant songwriter judging from the band’s high-profile Hallmark-ish singles. If Filter were some unknown entity, it’d be easier for non-wimps to give each Filter album — homes to at least a dozen of rock’s most compelling songs of the past ten years — a deserved day in court. Instead, car commercials and dentist offices poison the ears of would-be fans with Patrick’s detours into wheezy, airbrushed soft rock.

Which is fine, cuz set against Patrick’s heavy hitters (like this jam or this mega-jam), songs like “The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)” and “Where Do We Go From Here?” provide counterpoint to the screamage and all that. Plus, popularity among download jockeys is way less profitable than licensing songs to Hummer. So Patrick’s not wrong, but yeah my point is that those songs taken singularly are misleading; thusly, I’m sick of saying defensive stuff like “Filter is awesome!” (i.e. “despite what you’ve heard”) when it should be “Filter is awesome!” (i.e. “Hooray!”).

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Richard Patrick strikes me as particularly bitter about the state of the music biz these days. Both times I saw the band in concert on their last album cycle (2008′s Anthems for the Damned) — at an intimate record release show at NYC’s Mercury Lounge and at a giant amphitheater opening for STP — he seemed to be having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that his audience was older now and no longer moshed / visibly got into the music / cared as much. I read an interview yesterday in which he was complaining that fans were complaining that albums were too expensive at $10. Dude, $10 is too expensive when you consider that the CD prices of yore were so high because they had to be manufactured and shipped (and yeah record companies were greedy) and that a [paid] digital download presumably cuts some of those costs out of the equation. And that recording technology is waaaay cheaper these days than it used to be. Times have changed, dude. Sure, the industry is way different, but so is the musical climate. Sounds to me like sour grapes… Filter ain’t as big as in their ’90s heyday, so Patrick blames it on the industry.

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Yes, that is John Locke on that poster. No, he will not be in the remake, too. He fired his agents and now he has nothing to show for it. Sorry.

Generally speaking, I like Filter very much. And I have a lot of respect for Richard Patrick. I thought that Army of Anyone was awesome. And that dude can really belt it live.

But Filter’s cover “Happy Together” by The Turtles is so bad, only Within Temptation fans could ever possibly enjoy it. (Although, in all fairness, it’s from the soundtrack for the remake of The Stepfather. So at least its pedigree wasn’t misleading.)

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[First of all, big ups to Sam @ NoneLouder for not only supplying me with a ticket to this very special show, but giving up his own ticket so I could go. Above and beyond. And special thanks to Kristine @ MSO PR for making it happen. -Ed.]

“Sorry for throwing water all over you guys!” an apologetic Richard Patrick said from the stage as he was winding down his band Filter’s CD release party show at NYC’s Mercury Lounge last night, just moments before launching into set-closer “Hey Man, Nice Shot.” He continued, “When Filter first came to New York, you guys were moshing the whole time, so I came out tonight I was confused. But now I realize you guys just express your appreciation in different ways! That’s cool. So, sorry about that!”

Patrick’s foible was understandable; he seemed a bit frustrated, nay, perplexed, when the predictably staid New York audience of mostly well-connected 30-somethings and music industry heads failed to do much more than bob their heads to the beat throughout the band’s first several songs. So when Patrick took the stage to Title of Record opener “Welcome to the Fold,” he pulled the tried-and-true rockstar trick of spewing water all over the front row in an effort to get the kids riled up. Only they weren’t really kids, just very appreciate Filter fans happy to have the opportunity to see the band in such an intimate, special gathering. But ultimately it didn’t matter — the crowd was more than enthusiastic in “other ways,” to quote Patrick, vehemently shouting, clapping and giving endless applause after every song, even those from Filter’s brand new disc Anthems for the Damned which hit stores yesterday (read my review here). And as soon as Patrick realized that this audience wasn’t necessarily the moshing type but was no less appreciative, all was good in the Mercury Lounge and the band plowed through an hour plus set of old favorites, new jams and deep album cuts to the pleasure of all those lucky enough to be in attendance.

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For Richard Patrick’s fourth effort under the Filter moniker, he’s hired an all-star cast of musicians to back him up. But really it doesn’t matter, because Patrick is Filter the way Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails, the band in which Patrick got his start. And the core of Patrick’s patented Filter sound is intact on Anthems For the Damned, a dark sense of melody culled from the industrial scene in which Patrick earned his stripes mixed with songs alternatingly heavy and pensive. Anthems for the Damned runs the (amal)gamut across the sonic spectrum that has come to define Filter, from rockers reminiscent of “Hey Man, Nice Shot” to slower numbers closer to “Take a Picture” and everything in between, capturing the essence of the Filter sound but failing to exceed expectations.

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Am I the only person hoping that the return of Filter would mean Richard Patrick was going to make more industrial-flavored alt rock? ‘Cause we’ve had no such luck: “Soldiers of Misfortune,” the new single currently streaming on Filter’s MySpace page, is more easy-listening in the vein of “Take A Picture,” a.k.a. “The Song that Makes Axl Rosenberg Wanna Murder Richard Patrick Every Time He Hears It.”

Look: I know Patrick ain’t gonna turn around and make a Cannibal Corpse album – and I wouldn’t want him to – but is another “Hey Man Nice Shot” or “Welcome to the Fold” too much to ask?

-AR